Back when the Metamorphosis first descended, Leonel remembered thinking that this was really the end and that this would really be how he died. He had already concluded that the Paradise Islands had fallen and his father was dead, and now he was certain that he would follow not long afterward.
In those moments, he felt lost and alone. He remembered the only thing he had wanted in those final seconds he thought he had was for Aina to look at him, to just spare him one glance as that portal-like wormhole approached them.
He remembered feeling as though his heart was being stabbed through because even then, even when there was nothing else to live for, the girl he had chased for four years didn't even want to look at him. Even now, he could remember how each individual strand of her hair had fallen to the back of her head before he was sucked away and completely lost consciousness.
